Carlton may have a concern, however, with Marc Murphy likely to come under scrutiny by the Match Review Panel for a clash with opposing Saints skipper Nick Riewoldt in the third quarter.

While Murphy appeared to attempt to avoid bumping Riewoldt, the champion Saint was collected and left the field for almost 10 minutes while being tested for concussion before returning.

The Blues did most of their damage in a blistering second term, piling on eight straight goals and opening up a 39-point lead at the main break.

"We went out there to defend the ball and the best form of defence is to have the ball and from that we were able to score. There was no freewheeling, let's blister the scoreboard, let me tell you that right now," Blues coach Mick Malthouse said following the win.

Kade Simpson (36 touches), Brock McLean (29) and Marc Murphy (32) were solid, and Dylan Buckley continued his breakout season with tenacity and run from defence.

Where the Blues had a bevy of goalkicking options in the game-breaking second quarter, the Saints looked almost solely to captain Nick Riewoldt.

No.3 draft pick Jack Billings chipped in with a classy conversion but there was little else in support for Riewoldt.

Something changed after half-time.

All of a sudden, the Saints had options. Adam Schneider kicked a goal, and Luke Dunstan ripped the ball out and snapped one of his own.

With Riewoldt off the ground for almost 10 minutes while recovering from his knock, St Kilda's movement became more unpredictable, and others became more involved.

The Saints cut the margin to 27 points by the last change, but could have been more, having booted 2.7. They left themselves with too much to do.

"[It was] nine scoring shots to two, and potentially could have made a game of it. There was some belief among the group, you could sense that at three-quarter time," Saints coach Alan Richardson said post-game.

"There's no doubt that if you're not going all that well, and you're up against some real quality … we just couldn't quite match it there. If we had of made the most of those opportunities, who knows?"

Riewoldt finished with four goals – taking his season tally to 22 – and tried hard all night, fellow veterans Lenny Hayes (30 disposals) and Adam Schneider (26) provided some experience, and Billings continued to show why he was such an early draft choice with 15 touches and two goals.